Bad Time For Big Raises For Connecticut Judges

EDITORIAL

Judges' Pay Most people don't get $45,000 pay hikes

October 17, 2012

Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers makes a good case for raises for Connecticut's state judges, who haven't received a cost-of-living increase in five years.

The problem is, Justice Rogers is pushing an immodest proposal that would give the judges an 11.3 percent raise for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and a 5.5 percent wage hike in each of the following three years. For the state's Superior Court judges — who now make $146,780 annually — the proposed raises would amount to about $45,000 over four years.

Yikes! They might as well ask for chauffeurs, too.

The judges must have missed the stories about the outrageous $48,000 raises given to some state higher education administrators and then suspended after citizens understandably began to howl about the injustice.

The bureaucrats had taken on extra duties and might, like the judges, deserve additional compensation. But shouldn't factors like scale and context come into play?

An 11.3 percent raise next year for judges — and a 26 percent hike for one higher ed administrator —seems extravagant at a time of economic suffering.

Scores of thousands of Connecticut residents who used to have jobs now don't. Many lucky enough to still be working haven't seen a raise or bonus in a long, long time. Many have taken pay cuts.

The judges' argument for a raise is sound, leaving current conditions aside. They are underpaid. Because they haven't had a raise since 2007, the value of their compensation is shrinking. Connecticut ranks 45th overall in judicial pay, factoring in the state's cost of living.

The quality of the state's bench remains high, but that won't always be the case if talented lawyers perceive that judges are under- compensated.

Justice Rogers' proposal will be presented to the new Commission on Judicial Compensation, which will make a recommendation to the legislature next year. A smaller raise would be more palatable in this economic climate. It would coincide with the end of the two-year wage freeze for most unionized state employees, and would be more fair.